| The ultimate question for men has been turned into a film from
none other than Mad Max himself Mel Gibson. Does it give us a hint as to whats going on
through that pretty ladies head. Or are we just as confused after the moviel, as we are
before it? Nick Marshall (Mel Gibson) was the
ultimate man's man. A charming, irrepressible bachelor living on the A-list of life (Like
most of our gyeah.com staff), he loved listening to Sinatra and, like the Chairman of the
Board himself, thought he had the world on a string. Then one night, in the privacy of his
Rat Pack dream apartment, that string began to unravel when he got an unexpected jolt,
which opened his eyes and ears more than he could have imagined. Or ever dreamed of. Now,
Nick Marshall, hot shot advertising executive and self-proclaimed God's gift to women,
suddenly found that he had another gift -- when he discovered he could hear the inner most
thoughts of every women he came in contact with.
"What Women Want" is a romantic comedy that fails to be either romantic or
contain comedy. The comedy in this film is spaced out, and when it comes, it fails to
really envoke laughter. Instead, a simple "hehe" is all that comes from the
laugh pipe. (In fact I got more humor from the antics inside the theater when a young lady
was talking, someone told her to shut up, and she responded "Make Me Bitch!"
very loudly.) Now, this wouldn't be a complete and total bad thing if the romantic portion
of this film held up its end of the bargain. Unfortunately, it doesn't. The romance
between Helen and Mel seems forced and unreal, and completely ruins any emotion this film
tried to envoke. In fact, I felt more chemistry coming from Mel's other female co-stars
like Marisa Tomei and the young lady who played the emotionally distraught Erin.
Mel is perfect in the role of Nick, and the film has quite an interesting premise. A man
who can hear what women think..heh..what man wouldn't want that option. This premise is
used perfectly, but everything else just fails to bring anything worthwile to the table.
The way Nick gets his gift is far to contrived and unrealistic, and the subsequent ways he
tries to get rid of it are even more unrealistic taking you as a viewer completely out of
this film. Helen Hunt, as much as I love her as an actress, doesn't work here for me, and
there is far too much time in this film (2+ hours) for there not to be more humor or more
romance. Also...that young girl from the tv series "Growing Pains" needs
sleep...and lots of it.
I really wanted to like this movie, but in the end it lacked too much and was far too long
for me to recommend this film to anyone. If you want to see a good romantic comedy, see
"Family Man". But leave "What Women Want" for rental. I guess the
question that puzzles all still has yet to be answered.
Rating:  1/2 out of four. |
